Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Spread your arms, hold your breath, and always trust your cape!

Already there are events and plans penciled on my 2015 calendar, but the new year may not look at all like what I expect.

I learned that truth in capital letters in 2014. (Exhibit 1: see my posting on "Where have you been?") A new year is not an empty box for us to fill, but full and vibrant with God's designs. I have only to follow Him into it.

No. Matter. What.

The difference between being foolish and being faithful is distinguished by being focused on His highest, not our own pursuits. For when we follow fully the Most High God, He will take us places we would dare not tread on our own -- be it scaling the heights, traversing the miry bog, fulfilling His design right where I am, or trekking through what we would assume a wilderness. He provides the strength. He enlarges our vision. And He is always faithful.

As I experienced in our whirlwind 2014, I would change his lyrics to say "always trust your God."

Though the fig tree do not blossom,
nor fruit be on the vines,
the produce of the olive fail
and the fields yield no food,
the flock be cut off from the fold
and there be no herd in the stalls,
yet
I will rejoice in the LORD,
I will joy in the God of my salvation.
GOD, the Lord, is my strength;
He makes my feet like hinds' feet,
He makes me tread upon
my high places.

Habakkuk 3. 17-19

The word "tread" is commonly defined as "to walk," but it also can mean "to dance." I like the image of that: to dance upon our high, scary places of life. Because with Him, I am not alone. He releases me from fear.

"You can't just sit there," admonished the late Chuck Colson,who was himself a visionary and cultural activist.

God says, "Trust Me.
And do not be afraid."
Those two go hand in hand.